The Herd with Colin CowherdColin declares Nikola Jokic the perfect model for modern basketball after an incredible 61-point performance and on pace to have his most productive season despite already winning 3 MVPs. He explains why it's obvious 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will get a massive contract extension based on recent comments from the team owner. He also talks to NFL Draft expert Todd McShay about Shedeur Sanders as a prospect and why he might be falling in the draft
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This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver on Fox Sports Radio.
Oh, there's a Wednesday, and it's a busy one live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making that's part of your day. So you know they talk about you, and you'll see lists sometimes jamac about the best jobs in America, the worst jobs in America if you're looking for careers. The worst job in America, at least for a night. The worst job in America for night was Julius Randall guarding Nicoloch last night, who played fifty three minutes sixty one points another triple double after the game in Minnesota one. But after the game, Julius Randall said, my body's in shock. I feel absolutely awful. He's shooting turnaround jumpers. Is Jokich off the wrong foot. I don't know what I'm watching out there. Listen, all great big men in my life have had one or two great defining characteristics. Kareem the skyhook, Russell rebounding in defense a team, the footwork, shack, the power. And then there's Jokich, who is the modern definition of basketball. He does about six things well. Shoot, pass, screens, postplay, handles the ball outlet passing maybe the best in the league. He's currently second in the NBA in steals. It is very lebron redefining what a basketball player is. Of versatility we have never seen and you know a lot of NBA superstars, and this is probably why the sport is culturally important and artistically important. A lot of the superstars fly past you or jump over you. Mj that's not Jokic. He sort of rolls past you and he leans into you. He's not jumping over anybody. Draymond Green, one of the great defenders in NBA history, acknowledges, yeah, I can stop Jannis.
I can't stop Joker. I'm white flag. I give up. I give up.
And a lot of NBA stars are are like action films, mesmerizing to watch Jokic is the best book, layered chapters, each elevating the last chapter, character development, a lot of depth. There's a little Bill Walton here, and absolutely some r Vitas Sabonis. It feels like the the two great Portland centers of all time. The passing, the intelligence, the ability to score. But this book is better than the movie. And most aren't read this book. It is all time stuff. Like I know, it's not always you know, wow, but you know when you talk to opposing players, Julius Randall's six to eight in a load, and he sounds like last night he dealt with a Serbian bear. My body is awful. I give up. I don't even know what I'm doing here. Three times more triple doubles than anybody in the league, in fact, you know, as great as Magic Johnson or Lebron are Is Yokich is the only basketball player in my entire life, and I've been watching the NBA since the seventies that if you said, yeah, guy in the NBA last night had thirty six, thirteen and eleven. And it's not a headline, it's just what he does. The greatest book in NBA history, depth and chapters and layers. It keeps getting better. What's the conclusion, Well, he's got three MVPs and a trophy and any All Star appears. In fact, one of my favorite parts of Jokic he doesn't like the NBA All Star Game. He doesn't fit. The part of him is anti NBA.
He really is.
He's like the book that doesn't even want to be made into a movie. No, I'm good just being a book. Here's his coach and aunt.
After NICOLEA came up to me after the third quarter, I said, Coach, I'm good. You know, leave me in there. You know, I don't want to come out. Let me just keep playing. He was in a good rhythm obviously. Sixty one points, tenn assists, ten rebounds, two steals. The guy's superman. Oh my god, he might be the best basketball player I've ever seen, like CLSA, besides like, besides myself, to myself, Bro, he's incredible.
Bro.
The MVP race is tough. No, I don't know where. Yeah, that's crazy.
Yeah, it is for everybody except the Joker.
So I saw Jed York owns the San Francisco forty nine Ers, a fairly low profile outside of the Bay Area. We know Robert Kraft, or we know Jerry Jones. He's a little bit more under the radar, like a Stan cronkey. You know him in the town he's in, but you know he's not out in the press a lot. But he said yesterday, yeah, Brock, pretty deal is going to get done. Here is Jed York on this contract that is looming.
We want to make sure that Brock is a long term partner. We want to make sure that he's a part of our team for a long time. And it's a decision. I don't know exactly when we made it, but it was somewhere in the middle of the season, knowing that you can start negotiating at the end of the third year, and it's like, all right, he's our guy, and if he's our guy, you have to know that and make those decisions.
And that's where we are right now.
And he's Kyle's guy, and that's the key.
His passer rating was thirteenth, as completion percentage was seventeenth. Wins he was eighteenth. This is all about Kyle Shanahan. The franchise is Kyle's Kyle and Sean McVay, they're the franchise. It doesn't always work that way. In Philadelphia, Howie Roseman is the soul in the centerpiece. He's the leading voice. In Kansas City or Green Bay, it shared among many people. But if Kyle Shanahan views brock Purty as a top ten quarterback, then he is the deal will get done. I mean, Matt Stafford is great, one of the great arm talents of my life in the NFL, but it's the voice of Sean McVay that moved into Stafford off of golf and will move eventually off of Stafford in New England. For years, what was the term in Belichick we trust? It wasn't in Brady. It was in Belichick. Bill was the singular decision making voice in big spots.
Now you can get into trouble when there's Seattle.
Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll both felt like they deserved a little more of the credit for being the voice that led to a divorce. I think in Green Bay Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers both felt a little disrespected, wanted a little more control that led to a divorce. But in San Francisco, there are two things about brock perty that Kyle Shanahan loves number one. Cognitively, he can really read a defense quickly. Sam Darnold said he'd never seen a quarterback like that. He can just see the field very quick processor. And the second thing is and for a smaller quarterback, this is rare.
He's got it. He'll let her rip. He will absolutely let her rip.
He was fourth in Big Time twenty plus yard passing plays and that was without Brandon Ayuk.
He'll let it go.
He sees the play quickly, he processes uber quickly and then lets her rip. Garoppolo wouldn't do that. Trey Lance wouldn't do that. They'd hold the ball if they didn't have that arm. Confidence pretty does. So you may have fifty five guys on the roster and fourteen trainers and twenty seven scouts, and the executive front office is thirty five people. But most organizations have a singular voice that makes the biggest decisions. And in San Francisco, that's Kyle Shanahan. Now, he didn't never ring. He's lost big leads in big games. And there are some skeptics, and I do think sometimes Kyle Shanahan is too tied to the play sheet. Mcveay is willing to blow it up second quarter, third quarter and start over. Shanahan not as much, but Perty's going to get the bag because Kyle Shanahan believes he's a top ten quarterback, and this whole sport is belief. Even yourself, do you believe in the quarterback and in San Francisco, yes, and yes, that's your answer, and that's why he'll get the bag.
J Mac, I know it.
It is funny when I was I was thinking of Jokics this morning in that you know, Kareem was another guy where in the All Star Game used to be much different.
They played defense and stuff.
But most of the great players in league history are really fun in the All Star Game. They really did understand it. Even if they're not superstar players play Griffin, they're superstar attractions. Joker is the one guy in this league that is fairly worthless in the All Star Game, and he's the best player in the league, and he doesn't even look like he fits in it. Like he's like, guys, this isn't this isn't really my game. And I think I respect him more for that. Like he is, you know, they use the term unicorn. He's the unicorn. He doesn't play like the NBA. He rolls into you and passed you. He doesn't fly up or over you. He doesn't work with the All Star festivities. But we are looking at I think, not only the best player in the game, but a combination of the best two or three. Bill Walton years, the best of Sabonis when he was overseas, and I think he's entered a territory of a top three or four player center in the history of the sport.
Yeah, I'm with you.
You know, you look at Shaq, who was utterly dominant Akima lajah one.
I think you'll get just right there in the discussion with them.
I know the Shaq fans won't want to hear that, because nobody does a dominant.
He does far more better than Shak. Shaq couldn't hit free throws. There was Shack attack, there was foul him late. People wanted Shack to shoot late.
Yeah, Yoki very limited right outside the lane, right, Jollkic is killing you from three defensively. I know he doesn't look like an Adonnas. Shack was just a hulking, incredible hull type figure. But Jokich right now, I mean, I don't know how there's just a discussion with him in SGA for MVP, like SGA, just on the team with the best record, they might win seventy games. Yeah, but to Mekis has to be the end.
Well, he's he's been the best basketball player in the world for four years running.
I made a case that Luca for a while was there, and Luca was with him, but Yokic just pulled away.
It's funny whenever you do top ten all time NBA lists, like at this point, he's got to be in it. He I mean, I'm just I'm sorry, but you can't put a keem in shack near it and not Jokic. I'm sorry, folks, the.
Tenor top ten or fifteen? I again, do you want another year? But he is?
You know, I remember when Jordan was the best player in the NBA. I can remember talking to somebody about this. I said, the gap between Jordan and two was greater than two to eight or two to ten.
I think that's where we are with Jokic.
The gap between him and the second best player could be Tatum and SG Jannis. I mean, Draymond Green can hold Yannis to five field goals. Draymond Green has no ability to stop him. None our best defensive player. I mean Dennis Rodman was a little bit like that, you know, against certain players, like he could stop almost everybody, and then you know, you get into certain matchups where there's not a lot you could do to stop MJ or Kobe in his prime.
I we just have to be honest about this.
If you're gonna put Duncan, if you're gonna put Shocked and a team all time great players near that top ten or twelve, it's silly not to put him in there.
If you're having a draft of the top centers of all time and you give me the first pick, I would go Jokic over any of these.
I would go Kareem second. Yeah, yeah, I would go Jokic because of his ability now again old rules new a part of what makes him so powerful as the three point shot. But I think Jokic and Kareem to me, I mean, Kareem was a dominant defensive player, a dominant offensive player early career.
Could run the floor.
But there's when you can do six things well, it's like they stay in baseball a five tool player. Oh, tawny, is Jokic the modern athlete Lebron Otani Jokic. You can't defy him. You can't define them by position. They do too many things.
Well, Yokic is gonna finish top two in MVP for the fifth straight year. Only one other guy in the modern era has done that. His name's Larry Bird. So Jokic is in historic territory right now, Colin.
I don't want to see him. If I'm the Lakers in the second round, I do not. I don't know much. Rather face Okay, So go.
Look at Jokic against Anthony Davis. And Anthony Davis it was I thought the last two years was the best defensive player in the year. He may not win the award, but he's playing great defense. I mean, he will hold Jokic to twenty eight, nine and nine, and you're like, what an effort that guy shut him down and they and in those games, the Lakers never won them. I think at one point, Denver one twelve in a row. So it's the Jokers got three MVPs in the title. A team's got one MVP, Shack one MVP. Now Shaq's got four titles, but well.
Shack had you know Kobe Bryant, come on, he's coat. Jamal Murray's never been an all starts. You'll get your second best player, like, come on, what.
Do we do?
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So the Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies last night. The Warriors are on fire and the Grizzlies are melting at the end of the season. So whoever faces the Grizzlies in the playoffs first round is getting a real break. And last night the Warriors Big three, Steph, Draymond and Jimmy Butler crushed ninety two points, twenty six rebounds, twenty.
Four US says.
And the Warriors are now eighteen and two when Steph and Jimmy Butler are both playing and they're all twelve and oh this is important. They're undefeated when they go with their really small lineup where Kaminga's off the bench and it's Steph, POD's Moody Butler and Draymond. It's the no center Warriors. And they've also got a really good bench here. Buddy, Heal can give you a shooting. Jonathan Kaminga can give you some length and athleticism, post and Kavon Looney give you a size. Gil Santos like, that's one of the better NBA benches. It's not just a Jimmy Butler thing. They play nine guys, ten guys. Now they're fifth in the West. If they beat the Lakers tomorrow in LA, they're one game in a fourth place and this matters. We are looking at today a Warrior Laker first round playoff series. But trading for Butler gave this team two guys Dramon and Jimmy Butler that can get more good looks for Steph Curry. And he's hard to play with because he's sort of freestyling. And the offense under Steve Kerr has always sort of been the adults only pool at the resort. Kids, you're not welcome here. They tried James Wiseman could not catch up. It's like playing with Tom Brady in New England, like young receivers. It just didn't work. It just Tom wasn't gonna sit around and wait for you. So this Warriors offense, it is a lot of spacing, It has a lot of motion, and it's how do you adapt and play with Steph Curry because nobody moves off ball like Steph. So you've got to be intuitive, a quick thinker. You've got a lot of a lot of basketball miles. I mean KD worked instantly, andre Igwodalo worked in instantly, Andrew Boget works, Jimmy Butler works. These are smart veteran players with a lot of basketball miles that you don't have to teach how to play basketball. It is a split second decision offense, and squirrely guys and young guys have never fit here. Too much motion, too much space, and too much quick decision making. So Steph's not actually always the easiest player to play with. He's a great guy. You don't get ego, but he is moving so much with the ball and off the ball. You have got to pay attention. You can't sit in the corner and just watch. You are part of this motion. Jimmy Butler gets it. Draymond gets it. They have not lost a game when they go with their smaller starting lineup, kaminga buddy Healed off the bench, their size Looney post off the bench. Here is Steve Kerr on last night Steph Curry twelve three pointers. Fifty two points overshadowed on a night by jokicch But here's Steve Kerr.
The guy's thirty seven years old. It's incredible. Fifty two points with people draped all over him all game long. I've been watching this for eleven years, and actually longer before.
I became coach. I was enjoying watching and play.
But to coach him you get a real sense of just the magnitude of his.
Talent.
His characters, work, ethic guys amazing to watch and we're lucky to have him.
Yeah, it's really a spectacle. And when Mark Jackson was a coach, it was a good team. But there is something about Kerr's offense and the most and the intuitive nature of it, like it takes special player like Draymond Green had a lot of college games under a great coach, Tom Izzo, so he was able to work with this very quickly. Draymond is thinking the game, not playing it. Katie the same way. It's taken Moody years to get there. But you can't just throw guys into Steph Curry and Itowah's works. There have been guys that have not worked when they get away from what there really are. It's the fastest, most motion, most movement offense in the league, and it takes special guys to play with it. And Jimmy Butler has got a Draymond feel. He just gets he gets Steph good looks. He feels the game and thinks the game, not just plays it. And last night it's another great example of that. Today it would be Lakers Warriors first round. NBA is probably thinking, we don't want that. We don't want to get rid.
Of one of these teams.
I'm not sure if that's good. It'd be the highest rated first round playoff series in the last decade. I'm not sure it's great for the league to have those guys going at it. It'd be something to watch, though.
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That's Cavino and Rich. Here we go.
It's hour two. It is a Wednesday. We're live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Todd mcshae an old friend, gonna be joining us in four or five minutes. Also Chris Barssard next hour. So the NFL Draft is obviously, and we'll talk on that with McShay here in five minutes. It's coming up in three weeks. So Steph Curry overshadowed by Jokic having sixty one. Steph Curry had fifty two last night, hit a dozen three pointers, Warriors beat the fading Grizzlies.
So I always think about this.
We've talked about this, how certain players in the NBA are great, Kevin Durant, Carmelo, Anthony, James Harden, They're not influential. Shack was great, he wasn't that influential, Magic Bird Lebron, Steph Curry are influential. It's like Jeff Bezos is rich and influential. He ended Mals, he changed retail in America. That's influential. Elon Musk even before doge. Uh, you know, politics aside automotive industry, space industry like that.
That.
Larry Ellison is really rich one hundred and ninety two billion, He owns half a Hawaii. He doesn't he doesn't feel half as influential as like Steve Jobs did, like like brought art into tech. Larry Ellison's just a really smart guy.
Uh.
That and super rich.
Uh.
And that's kind of the difference is Steph Curry. You know, Tim Duncan and Wilt great influential, just great. Steph's just different. I mean, change basketball overseas au basketball. And we always knew he would be a guy that would age well. Smart athletes age well. They take care of their body. You know, guys that are still go to nightclubs or don't eat right, or they're not intentional you know with their training, they age very quickly. I always said Cam Newton and Big Ben aged very quickly. Brady really intentional with his diet, pilates training, aged incredibly well. And Steph falls into that class. But it's just it's it's really remarkable what he's done. He is and he's not athletically a force of nature Shack was. But the second best part of Steph is he just works well with everybody.
Right. You don't get a lot of ego.
And I've said international soccer, in the NBA, you know, listen, it's about the star as much as the team. See, you got to battle some of the ego stuff. I mean, Lebron's got an ego, but Lebron plays well with others. D Wade has an ego. He played well with others. Carmelo not so much. He kind of wanted to be the guy. He was threatened by Jeremy Lynn at one point. So I think Steph's aging well. And Steve Kerrz talking about it.
I can't believe he's still still doing this at this age. But he's put the work in and they.
Still got it. How much do you think that week off he just had maybe boosted.
It a little bit.
I think it helped, and I think two rounds of golf on this road trip helped.
Yeah.
I'm only half joking, you know, but yeah, the week off was helpful for him. I think he looks recharged, rejuvenated.
How about this Lakers Warriors if the playoffs started today, would meet. Now, that's not what you want. You want those two advance. You want the story to be expanded. You'd love the Lakers and Warriors to win and then meet in the second or the third round. But that's where it is today. I will tell you I was thinking about this Lakers Warriors. The Warriors have a really deep bench, and the bench gives you Looney and Post give you size, Buddy, Heal gives you shooting, kaminga gives you athleticism. The Warriors have one of the better benches, like the Boston Celtics in the NBA in the playoffs, though, are you gonna trust Gi Santos? Are you gonna play them a lot? I'm not sure if you are. Are you gonna play post a lot? You know the guy from the Netherlands, Are you gonna play him a lot in the postseason?
Maybe not.
You'll play looneymore so. But it's getting real interesting now. The thunder in the Rockets, especially the Thunder have pulled away from everybody. Man, it is really really how good I mean, the timber Wolves are seven. That is a good team. That is that is an all time great number seven seed. Do we have the Eastern Conference standings for us? Because think about this, Like you could get Kawhi Leonard, you can get depth Zubots the center, Like the Clippers are a good team.
They're not a great team, and you never know.
Who's gonna actually play, but it's a good team. Timberwolves as a seven seed compared to a seven seed in the East like that. And I've said this, I don't know exactly why this is, but the Western Conference, like I understand why the SEC is better in college football.
The footprint.
There's all these unbelievable athletes, these totally addicted high school football programs. Like I get wife. High school football is good in Dallas or Georgia or Florida, like I get it. The Western Conference has been so much deeper and better than the Eastern Conference. Now, I do think the Celtics and the Caves are the two best teams. But the Orlando Magic are three games under five hundred. They're a seven seed in the East. And the Tea Wolves that just beat the Nuggets the great Staff, they're a seventh seed in the West, so the gap is significant. Well, a buddy NFL draft college analyst now he's at the Ringer. Good for him, Todd McShay, haven't talked in a while, joining us live in the turn Todd, how are you great to have yond congrats on your success and congrats on.
Going to the Ringer. Man.
Thanks man, it's good to talk to you. It's been a minute. You were always supportive of me, that are during our last adventure if you will, and venture certainly at an ESPN and it's great to catch up with you.
So it's all I keep hearing from my people. In the league is this is not a great draft, And I'm like, Okay, there's got to be a couple areas that you like it. So if I said to you, give me two position groups todd that you'll go to the well on and you'll say, Okay, it's a good year for what in this draft?
Running backs and defensive line calling. I mean, I was looking at it the other day. I went back thirty years and then I kind of got I kind of got bored in the last thirty years. I think it was twenty six defensive lineman. That was the highest number we've seen and talking interior defensive lineman and edge. And this year I've got thirty five players along the interior and at edge that could get drafted in the first three rounds. So even if I'm off by like eight, if my evaluation's too high on eight of these guys, it still will be a record number of interior defensive linemen and edge defenders that come off the board. And then at running back, this is this is the best group I've ever evaluated. I've been doing it twenty five years, and it starts with astroon gent right, who's going to be a worst case he goes ten to Chicago, we could see him go six to the Raiders. I mean, he's if you when I'm talking to guys in the league, it's like, yeah, he's a running back, but I've got a grade on him. That's like just to tick below the top two guys that everyone's talking about in Abdul Carter, the edge rusher from pet State, and Travis Hunter, the generational talent both sides of the ball from Colorado. And then beyond just genty, you've got Omari and Hampton, who's like two twenty plus, light on his feet, powerful, best mistackles force of any running back after the catch is a receiver. So he's got that combinations. Yeah, Oh, he's unbelievable. I've got eighteen guys Colin and at the running back position the first four rounds with grades the three year average just ten. We're talking about almost twice as much talent in the first full Yeah, it's crazy. And you go down the list of these guys and it's beyond Ginty and Hampton, it's Traveon Henderson and Quinchan Judkins from Ohio State, who are just first of all, nasty blockers, both explosive, Judkins, more powerful, Henderson faster and more dangerous in the in the passing game. Then you've got Caleb Johnson from from Iowa who is great in that zone blocking scheme. Cam Scattabo who who was like he was awesome when you watched him on TV, and then putting on the tape, I actually even liked him more. And I know he's gonna eat runs in the four sixes and all of that, but he's a phenomenal back. And then even beyond that, you've got r. J. Harvey from UCF, DJ Giddons from Kansas State, lesser known guys who are gonna come off the board in the first few rounds. I just I love this class of running backs. And you've seen it Colin Wright, like with cover two defenses and every one in the league spreading things out. Everything's cyclical, right, you spread these these defenses out. The passing game heavy in the last decade of the NFL. Now teams are trying to figure out art how do we counter that? And it's not We've seen a resurgence at running back and yes, this talent is outstanding and that a lot of these guys would go regardless, irregardless of the year. But with the NFL and defenses playing that cover two making you kind of drive the ball down the field trying to avoid the big plays from the Patrick Mahomes and the Josh Allens and all these big arm quarterbacks. You've got to have a running back now to counter it. It's explosive and that's why you saw That's why you saw Detroit and everyone was yelling at Brad Holmes, the GM for the Lions a couple of years, Jamier Gibbs can't draft a running back that high. You already got a running back. Well, look at what that did to that offense. And when the starter goes out a few weeks, and when you've got both of them healthy, it just elevated things. I think that's what we're seeing in the NFL right now.
Okay, so cam Wore the playmaker got a little Kleb Williams.
I see it.
I get it better arm than Shador. If I said to you, and you're hearing stories about this Chadure Sanders Jackson Dart. Are there people you believe that grade Jackson Dart ahead of Shador Sanders.
I know of one team that does. I can tell you that now. There's there's thirty one other teams, and that team may not draft either of these these quarterbacks. But I can tell you that at least one team in the league has a slightly higher grade on Jackson Dart than they do on Shadoor Sanders, and so to me, I have identical grades on them. I watch Jackson Dart and listen. I like Shadoor Sanders a lot. Doesn't have a huge arm, does not have mobility. I think that's the biggest mistake in the evaluation, at least early in the process. Everyone well, he's coach primes Son, he's fast. He's not fast at all. I bet you he'd run like a I don't know, four to eight in the forty if he ever ran one, and he's never going to. Uh. But what I do love about him is I think he's the fastest processor of all these quarterbacks in the passing game. Now, his instincts in terms of the pocket and kind of extending and drifting and always looking for the home run and not taking the short change, those sorts of things he'll manage through. And if people don't like him, what they say is he has some of the bad habits that Caleb Williams had the cause of problems as a rookie. But he doesn't have the armor and he is a fraction of the athleticism. But the people who love him love the fact that he's the best pure passer in terms of touch, timing, layering the football, and he's the fastest processor in this class. Now you go to Jackson Dart, bigger arm, bigger kid, more mobile. I think accuracy is good, but it's not quite at the level of Shador. Yeah, but the thing that made me fall in love with him. And listen, the detractors will say, well, Lane Kiffen that offense, they run that same sale route concept and they'll run it three four times a game, and they do things over and over again, predetermined reads, And yeah, that's true. It doesn't mean he can't do it. It's a matter of getting with him and figuring out how he learns. Can can he go through NFL reads and all those things. But when I fell in love with Jackson Dart, there's when you have the tape access that we have, like the PFF Ultimate combined with the Catapult, this whole system, you can go in and do cutups, go in and watch his cutups, on his intermediate throws ten to twenty five yards and watch his accuracy compared to a lot of other guys in this class. And then the thing that really jumped out to me. I watched over twelve hundred snaps in like a five day span of these quarterbacks versus pressure. His was so significantly better, and I saw a lot of like, I know, he's not the size and he doesn't have the arm, but a lot of the same things that makes Josh Allen special in terms of avoiding, quickly eluding, but calm, this presence about him as he's rolling out and seeing the field. He was so much better in those versus pressure moments to throw that one hundred and sixty one clip real that I went through than all of these other quarterbacks were. That to me spoke volumes because that in the NFL, you've got you have got to make intermediate throws and you've got to be able to work under pressure. And he did both of those at all miss at a very high level.
Okay, Travis Hunter, first of all, I think he's gonna be good at whatever he does. But if I was a coach, I'd be like, I'd rather have twelve targets than chasing the other team's best receiver around, I can get a corner in the fifth round. There is no more lockdown corner as good as Patrick's.
Or tan is.
There's so much motion, so many sets. The great offensive coach is making it virtually impossible to get your hands on anybody. If I'm New England and I can get twelve targets for this kid, fly sweeps bubble screens, I don't know. To me, I think he's an offensive player in the NFL if we want to put him in a nickel because we love his athletic ability, but don't just see him as an offensive guy in an offensive league.
You know, it's funny, like there's there's two trains of thought thought here. The first is cornerback. It's hard to play wide receiver full time. And then kind of moonlight or minor at the cornerback position, right right. And so so coaches get involved in this process and they're like, yeah, I understand it, but we can put in installs every week and have like a twenty play package for for Travis on the offensive side, and so from a coaching standpoint, that makes more sense. Let's keep him in the cornerback room. He can do some things and work with wide receivers and work with the quarterback on the field, and we can meet separately with those. But let's make him a corner and then do the install and some packages for him on offense. Okay, but the talent and what you're saying, those two factors, I think he's actually a better wide receiver. I think he's at his best with the ball in his hand. And the thing that goes like we all get so caught up in what we're showing the highlights right, how quick he is, how sudden he is. He's a dynamic at I'm telling you, Colin, he's up there in like the top five of wide receivers in terms of ball skills in like the past decade that I've evaluated. It goes so and so, while that's great at corner, how many interceptions is he really going to have? So the average guy would get three, maybe he gets five in a year. But if I can have that weapon, who's that reliable and refine him a little bit of as a route runner, and I already think he's a little bit more refined as a receiver and than a corner. I tend to agree if he falls to New England at four. You're telling me that they're looking at that and say, well, sorry, sorry, Drake May. We're gonna play him at corner, but we'll give you like twenty snaps no chance. Man. It will come down to the team that drafts him in what they need from him, and then the kind of the load management NBA stuff with him and trying to keep him healthy. But ultimately, I want to get the ball in this guy's hands, and I think you know, we all know that offense is the way to do that.
Todd mcshage now at the Ringer.
One last question on this because when I was a kid, I mean I can remember the top two or three tight ends Dave Casper for the Raiders.
There were so few of them.
Kellen Winslow, Well, I always had this theory is that as people got bigger, as athletes got bigger, and we've just got more six foot five, two hundred and forty pound men playing sports.
And they've got good hands because they played on their.
High school basketball team, and so you know, humans are getting a little bigger. But what's interesting about the tight end is we just have so many great six five, two hundred and thirty five pound high school athletes all over the country, and it's like, well, let's put them at tight end. Some can block, some can't. But I look at the tight end position now and I never thought tight end was a first round position. Brock Powers total outlier, best college tight end I've ever seen. Kyle Pitts not as good as I thought I But I do look at Tyler Warren at Penn State and I was I watched that USC and I'm sitting there and I'm like, dude, if I had to do I could could he throw the ball? Could I put him in the backfield? What do you make of him as a prospect? Because I keep hearing it's a weak draft, and I'm like, if you told me one guy went in this draft and we look five years later and went fad, We just didn't get how good this guy was.
He is different.
What do you make of him historically as comp and the Penn State tight end?
He is different. I mean he's he's six five and two thirds and he's two hundred and fifty six pounds and when you see him like break tackles and rumbling after the catch, You're like, yeah, he's every bit of that. Then you see him as a as a route runner, as an athlete. I mean he snapped the ball and then in that game and went and caught a touchdown passing the USC so like he could just kind of he's kind of different that you can and people are like, well, he's not a great blocker, Like yeah, no kidding, like he was doing everything else and yeah, he's got to improve in that area. I think he's so good after the catch. I think he knows how to get open, even though he doesn't separate, like Colston Lovelin. If you want a wide receiver at tight end, that's your guy. Yeah, he doesn't block like he's terrible at blocking. Let's just call it what it is. Colston Lovelin's a wide and he's he's a little bit more like brock Bauers just to tick behind him. In terms of talent, Warren is different man. Like you're watching the highlights here, he reminds me more of Gronk. If Loveland is is Bowers or Kelsey in that mode, this guy's Gronk in that he's he's going to become a serviceable blocker. But what he does so well is he's gonna find a way to get open versus zone boxing guys out catch the ball, and then after the catch, he creates so many yards with his combination of his athleticism and then the fact that he's just barreling through guys. So and then also there's this guy named Elijah Arroyo who's six', five two hundred and fifty one pounds From, miami who looks like he's about two thirty the way he carries his. Weight he had one year of great production At miami this past, year had some, injuries but if he stays, healthy he's got a chance to be a. Star and Then Jason taylor's, Son Mason taylor wasn't even utilized all that well AT. LSU a lot of underneath didn't like really stretch the scenem and do those sorts of. Things he's he's the same guy six four and a half two hundred and fifty one pounds as a royo and has an unbelievable skill set across the. Board those four tight ends have a chance to make a significant mark early in their careers and throughout their, careers AND i think all four of them are going to be off the off the, board probably in the top forty to forty five.
Picks, todd you look, great you sound. Great happy for. You you landed in a great. Spot say hi To bill and The. Fellas what a, crush my, man
